We started out long ago andhigh above the river and endedup here, again, last night watchingthe rain fall in the darkness, lookingdown across the river valley. Here,in a land defined by drought, it hasrained since we arrived – notsprinkles, but sheets: the kind ofdeluge that sticks your shirt to skinrunning from the car to the…

that has carried us betweenfamily and friends, sharingstories and meals, planningand remembering, feelingthe rise of old feelings that pulllike an undertow, and relishingnew experiences that carry uslike rapids so that we don’t havetime to take in all we are feelinghas left me exhausted and exuberant.I’m back in old places, but thewater is new; things are…

Nineteen years ago tonight I gave Ginger her ring. We had already decided together to get married, but I wanted to be able to make a big deal about the diamond. My friends Billy and Patty helped me put together the evening of a lifetime. Nineteen years later, that lifetime continues, full of love and…

Here’s Ella! Peace,Milton

Sometimes, figuring out what to write is like a treasure hunt: I have to go out and see what I can find. Other times, like the last few days, I’m less of a hunter and more of a collector, picking up the things that fall around me and then working to see what they might…

I had just settled in at my table at Mad Hatter’s Bake Shop when Ginger and the news that Manny Ramirez had been traded by the Red Sox to the Dodgers (Manny’s playing for Joe Torre!) arrived at the same time. Over the past few days, Manny has made it clear he wanted out of…

I’m not a big fan of quoting things in a post without making comments of my own. Anything I might post I probably found somewhere else online and is easily available to anyone. But I saw at the Writer’s Alamanac that today is Stanley Kunitz‘ birthday. He would have been 103. He lived to be…

As I listened to the news today, I realized our church has a choice to make. What caught my ear was the story about the man who walked into a church in Knoxville, Tennessee and opened fire on the congregation. He left a four page note in his truck, part of which said he thought…

I read a thought-provoking post this morning over at The Other Jesus. Greg Garrett, the author, is an acquaintance from years past and a good writer and thinker. His words have kept me thinking all day: At the risk of beating a dead horse, faith is not really faith if it’s easy. What the Christian…

For days in a row, now, the sunhas shone brightly on me, makingme begin to believe it is summer:a season of light. I finished twotwo projects in the house yesterday;today I painted a room that has beenwaiting for weeks to be a differentcolor, and tended to my garden,watering the small green tomatoesthat hold such promise….